Kaspersky Ransomware Landscape: Asia Pacific And Africa Become The Most Targets

JAKARTA - Kaspersky released its annual report on the growing landscape of global and regional ransomware cyber threats, coinciding with Anti-Ransomware Day on May 12.

According to the data, the Middle East region (LATAM), Asia Pacific (APAC), and Africa took the lead with the most ransomware attacks, with Latin America, CIS (Merdeka Country Commonwealth), and Europe in second place.

Globally from 2023 to 2024, the share of users affected by ransomware attacks increased to 0.44%. This small percentage is common because actors often do not distribute it on a large scale, but specifically prioritize high-value targets.

In the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region, ransomware affects more users due to rapid digital transformation, expansion of attack surfaces, and various levels of cybersecurity maturity.

On the other hand, ransomware is less common in Africa due to digitalization rates and lower economic constraints, which reduce the number of high-value targets.

However, as countries such as South Africa and Nigeria expand their digital economy, ransomware attacks increase, especially in the manufacturing, financial and government sectors.

Latin America also experienced ransomware attacks, especially in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Manufacturing, government, and agriculture, as well as key sectors such as energy and retail were targeted by the attack.

However, according to Kaspersky, due to economic and smaller ransom constraints, several attackers have carried out their attacks in the country.

Meanwhile, Europe has consistently been a ransomware target, but benefits from a fairly strong framework and cybersecurity regulations blocking some attackers.

Sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, and education are often targeted, but mature responses and awareness levels limit the scale of attacks.